Lviv, Ukraine, February 22, 2012
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is partnering with Kredobank to help individual homeowners and homeowner associations in Ukraine make their properties more energy efficient, aiding the country’s efforts to reduce green house gas emissions and modernize its housing stock.
The IFC Residential Energy Efficiency Project in Ukraine will work with Kredobank to develop a new financial product that will allow homeowner associations to borrow money to make improvements to their properties. It will also provide training that will enable the bank to expand its portfolio of energy efficiency loans and support project developers in preparing for financial transactions. IFC will also partially finance energy audits for the first borrowers.
“We believe that Ukraine’s housing sector has great potential for innovative and profitable banking services,” said Marcin Kuksinowicz, Kredobank’s acting chairman. “We hope that IFC’s knowledge of the local housing sector, coupled with its global expertise, will assist us in building a successful presence in this market segment.”
Ukraine’s housing sector consumes around 25 percent of the country’s electricity and 40 percent of its heat-energy resources. Many homes are old and inefficient, with poorly insulated buildings losing as much as 50 percent of their heat to the environment. IFC estimates that modernizing Ukraine’s apartment buildings will require up to $15 billion
.
“This program will help reduce the energy intensity of Ukraine’s economy, support better access to finance for homeowners, and improve their quality of life,” said Elena Voloshina, IFC’s head of operations in Ukraine. “At the same time, it will target what has been an underserved segment of the economy – Ukraine’s homeowner associations.”
Earlier this month, IFC also partnered with the government of Ukraine to expand access to finance for homeowner associations that want to undertake energy efficiency improvements in multi-family residential buildings.
These initiatives are part of IFC’s Ukraine Residential Energy Efficiency Project. Launched in 2010, it is being implemented in partnership with Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO, which will contribute $3 million to the project through March 2013.
Over its lifetime, the Residential Energy Efficiency Project aims to help Ukraine reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one million tons
,
which is equivalent to three days of emissions from electricity consumption. The project also will help reduce Ukraine’s dependence on imported gas.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, we helped our clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities—all while driving our investments to an all-time high of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
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